My family plays the alphabet game on long drives.Starting with the letter A, name something you can see from the car, like Asphalt. Then it's the next persons turn with B like Bumper, then C and so on. It's actually a lot of fun.

Graidawg and I tell each other long stories from our lives, in full detail. Our first car trip was 500 miles; too short. Our next trip was 6000 miles; still not enough. This year we are taking the train back (3 days and nights). I don't think we will run out of stories.

Then again, we have been alive longer than you have.

"Burning Man ruined my life as I knew it, and I have never been happier." -mgb327

My audio come the library for the blind. My eyes have been repaired pretty good..Still have a double vision that run the lines together.. The play back machine is great too.. No ear phones needed. Sides, earphone speakers are not set up for people the use hearing aids.

I wish I could be as comfortable and care-free on the road trip as you guys. I have a pretty big sound system in my truck, but I almost never play it on the BM trek... I've got a two ton camper on the back, and a five ton trailer behind. And I'm going over lots of mountains. All my stuff is in good order, the truck and trailer are both big enough to be within their capacity - but I have to listen to everything, always alert for trouble. Is it getting hot? Are the valves ticking? Is the motor holding together? I turn all my own wrenches... did I remember to tighten everything when it all went together? Are all ten tires OK? Are the wheel bearings heating up? Are the trailer brakes working right? Is anything leaking? I literally think about and visualize every part of the whole truck.

I wish I could just play an audio book or listen to music. But I know I'm in my own, a long way from home. I'm not really at ease until I get there.

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

I had a CB in the Land Yacht. CB is the best, and maybe only reliable way to talk anywhere on the playa. Forget those garbage "FRS" and "GMRS" radios, and 2-meter ham requires a license most don't have. I've got two 18-foot fiberglass CB antennas on the Yacht, just barely visible in my ID picture.... I'd put a radio back in it if anyone else had them. I think it'd be cool if all mutant vehicles had CBs, and an agreed-on channel.

Off the playa, CB isn't what it once was... the internet and cell phones came along and replaced it for most people although it's kinda' back to what it originally was - nothing but truckers, and even they don't talk on CB much anymore. My crane truck hasn't even got one in it anymore.

On the road trip to the playa, CBs (with good antennas!) are the way to go for multiple vehicle groups. It's easy to check on who needs a fuel stop, etc. and just chat, and a lot of the way to the playa is out of cell phone range.

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

Yes you can... but the only people you'll find on there are "radioheads".CB range isn't a set-in-stone 20 miles. It depends. The antenna, and where it is, is everything. In general, bigger is better, and up higher is better. It also depends on the "skip" level. During the day, signals bounce off the atmosphere and come back down, causing tons of background noise and static. It peaks in 11 year cycles, I've been out of it so long I don't know if we're in a high skip time or not.It quiets down at night. A long time ago when I was a radiohead, I had a huge antenna and big (illegal) power amplifier and used to collect post cards from people I contacted hundreds or thousands of miles away.

Real-life car-mounted CB range is usually a few miles at best, unless things are quiet, you have a big antenna, and you're in an area that's wide open. BRC is perfect, totally flat and open and only a few miles across, and a little convoy of cars (there I said it) is perfect for CB too. In the old days you needed a license but they did away with that years ago.

GreyCoyote: "At this rate it wont be long before he is Admiral Fukkit."Delle: Singularly we may be dysfunctional misfits, but together we're magic.

Botticelli. We play endless rounds of Botticelli, and we don't limit it to people. No computer needed.

Also, you can download the radio play "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter Miller, Jr. Desert setting. Science fiction. Recorded for NPR in 1981--15 parts will keep you entertained for hours and hours and hours.

When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to hide rubber tarantulas in each others cars. It was pretty funny watching the driver flip down their sunshade and having a giant hairy spider land in their lap. Bonus points if you don't crash.